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Key witness in Detroit trial: I may have dementia

A businessman who claims he was extorted by then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to protect his contracts at a Detroit convention center testified Tuesday that he raised concerns to FBI agents that he may have dementia just days before trial.

The disclosure by Karl Kado, 72, occurred near the end of four hours of vigorous cross-examination by attorneys for Kilpatrick and his father, Bernard. Kado testified Monday that he gave $200,000 to $300,000 to the elder Kilpatrick and thousands more to his son.

The Kilpatricks and a third man are accused of extortion, bribery and other crimes in a long-running corruption scheme that goes back more than a decade.

Defense lawyer James Thomas put Kado through a series of yes-or-no questions as he read from an FBI summary of an interview with Kado in September.

Kado acknowledged telling the FBI he sometimes forgets the day of the week and where he's going and that he believes he may have dementia.

He told jurors that his memory "is much worse than 11 years ago," the time when the government says Kado began a corrupt relationship with the Kilpatricks. Moments later, Thomas asked Kado if he remembered what Kwame Kilpatrick was wearing when he gave him $10,000 in 2002. He couldn't.

Kado nonetheless was able to clearly recall many events on the witness stand, although he appeared to change his story about cash payments to the then-mayor. He said Kwame Kilpatrick never asked for a specific amount of money, testimony that contradicted a version Monday.

"I know how much and I know when," Kado testified Tuesday.

Kado, whose cooperation in the investigation was important for the government, was asked by Thomas if he was working for prosecutors. "I think I'm working for the truth," he replied.

Kilpatrick, a Democrat whose mother is former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, was elected mayor in 2001. He resigned in 2008 and pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by lying in a civil case about having sex with an aide. He subsequently served 14 months in prison for violating his probation in that case.